Glenrothes councillor eyes up former PM’s constituency

Bill Brown

Published:14:00Tuesday 23 December 2014

A Glenrothes councillor has declared his interest in standing for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath constituency in May’s general election.

SNP councillor Bill Brown, who represents ward 14 West Glenrothes and Kinglassie, is among three shortlisted candidates aiming to secure the nomination to stand as the Nationalist’s candidate in the constituency vacated by former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown following his retirement.

Cllr Brown, who has taught computing at Fife College for the past 33 years, was elected as a councillor for the first time in 2012.

He joins Roger Mullin, an honorary politics professor at Stirling University and Leslie Backhouse, a director of the Breastfeeding Network.

In the 2010 general election, Gordon Brown secured a massive 23,000 majority making it one of Labour’s safest seats in the UK, but Kirkcaldy MSP David Torrance still feels it’s a seat they can win.

He said: “We go into the election in a positive mood, buoyed by the serge in membership, we’ll be campaigning to win the seat.”